Unfinished Business
Chapter 23
Robyn stepped into her apartment and closed the door behind
herself. It seemed as if much longer than twenty four hours had
passed since she had last been there. There wasn't any thing
definite that she could put her finger on as to why, she only
knew that she felt as if things had changed somehow. But there
wasn't much time to ponder those things. Her mission was to
gather some things for her stay at the Wright home. Then she
needed to get back and meet with the security system installers.
Sam would be having a busy day as well. After speaking with her
father that morning, he would be going down to the police station
with him to file an official report of what had happened the
night before, including the fact that he thought he had been
followed home.
She found herself wondering how things were going. The two men
seemed to get along fairly well, but then her father was rarely
difficult. Sam had opened up a great deal since they'd initially
met. She felt as if he'd allowed both her and her father into his
inner circle. The thought made her smile. He had been so prickly
in the beginning.
His, often stormy, blue eyes floated through her mind. Despite
the subject of conversation that morning, they had danced with
dry humor several times. When they had all gone their separate
ways that morning, he'd looked at her and offered a long wordless
smile before turning to hear something had father had said. She
still tingled a little at the memory.
Telling herself that she needed to get moving, she started with
feeding the fish and checking quickly through the mail to make
sure nothing needed immediate attention. It didn't. She then
moved on through to her bedroom, and hit the playback button on
her answering machine. There were several messages, but it was
the one from Steve that came as a shock to her system. Good,
reliable, Steve. He was letting her know that he was back in town
and was their date still on for Friday.
A wave of guilt washed over her. She hadn't thought about Steve
since that evening when her father had mentioned him. The words
that he'd spoken came back to her with such clarity that she
wondered if he had somehow predicted that this moment was coming.
The thought plagued her as she went about the task of gathering
items together for her stay with Sam and Beth.
Steve was a nice guy, thoughtful and friendly. He was very
comfortable to be with. But if she was honest with herself, she
had to admit that he wasn't exactly the light of her life. She
wasn't anxious to see him when he was away, although she did
normally look forward to their dates - at least she hadn't
forgotten them before! Her father was right, it was time to talk
to him. And a telephone conversation wasn't going to do it.
*
Sam had long since given up trying to concentrate on the
paperwork side of the business. The facts and figures could not
hold his attention, and he found his mind wandering to other
things. Or, more exactly, the things that were taking place in
his personal life.
Going down to the police station with Jeff had been a
surprisingly mundane experience. He'd been asked to look at mug
shots, but hadn't found anyone who seemed to match the appearance
of the man that had been on his patio.
Then there was Robyn. All day she had been there on the
peripheral edge of his thoughts. He had wanted to ask Jeff some
questions about her, but it didn't seem appropriate. He wondered
how the other man would react if he knew of his undo interest in
his daughter. Once he had returned to the office, with a firm
word from Jeff about making contact with either himself or Robyn
before he left, she moved from the edges of his thoughts to the
very center.
He kept seeing her in his mind, seated as she had been the night
before. The urge to just ignore the stack of work on his desk and
grab a pad and just draw her was strong. That was probably the
only way he was going to get the image out of his mind. He'd
given in and done it. The black and white charcoal did not
compare to the real life image that continued to plagued his
thoughts.
Shaking his head over the fact that committing his memory to
paper hadn't eased his mind, and feeling as if he had to get
something productive done, he'd gone into the work area and
joined the team there.
The friendly banter that shot back and forth between the team had
quickly drawn him in. Robyn was back on the edges of his thoughts
again. Though he felt a little guilty in forcing her out, at
least he was getting some work done. Besides, there really wasn't
anything between them. He was just a man whose natural responses
were being awakened by a beautiful woman. This phase would pass
once he adjusted to having her around.
That decided, he focused back on the joking atmosphere around
him. He was laughing at something Ralph Norsden had said when
Connie appeared in the doorway, telling him that he had an urgent
telephone call.
Half a dozen worrying thoughts ran through his mind at once. Had
something happened to Beth? Did Robyn run into a problem? Had
Jeff found something that meant that there was some immediate
problem? And if the call was from Jeff or Robyn why hadn't they
tried his cell phone instead of going through the receptionist?
And why hadn't Connie just paged him?
"It's someone from the Sauderbrandt Foundation," she
told him as he reached the door. Her expression was as curious as
his. Connie assisted with the accounting along with her other
duties as receptionist/assistant and knew what a boon the
Sauderbrandt account had been to the company. While they hadn't
been suffering for business, the account had definitely provided
a very nice buffer.
"Did you recognize the voice?" Sam asked. He had dealt
with Mr. Sauderbrandt himself during all of their business with
the exception of the initial call. He'd thought that a little odd
at first, but art could be a personal thing.
"No," Connie shook her head. "It was a woman and
she sounded very upset."
Sam felt unease trickle down his back. "Well, nothing to do
but to find out what she wants. Thanks Connie."
"Sure. It's on line one." She nodded and headed back to
her usual spot behind a desk in the reception area.
Sam continued on toward his office and immediately picked up the
receiver. The voice on the other end of the line was indeed very
shaky sounding, which only upped his apprehension level. She
quickly introduced herself as an assistant to Mr. Sauderbrandt's
personal secretary.
"Yes." Sam accepted that information, eager for the
next bit. He knew there was something more coming, it was evident
in the tension that emanated even across the phone line.
"I am calling at the request of Mr. Sauderbrandt's
secretary, who was passing along the request of Mr. Sauderbrandt
himself."
Sam nodded his head, even though she couldn't see him, hoping
that somehow he might hurry her along so that he could get to the
point of the telephone call. But the woman wouldn't be rushed.
She paused a moment before continuing. In the silence of that
moment, Sam thought he heard a shaking sigh as if she was trying
to get herself under control.
"Is something the matter?" he asked. He could not
understand why this woman would be working if she was obviously
so upset over something. It hardly seemed the type of thing that
would be allowed in such an organization.
"Mr. Sauderbrandt requests your presence immediately,"
she told him. "It is urgent that you meet with him right
away. He is here at the estate."
"Is there some kind of a problem?" Sam asked.
"Yes. He's had a collapse. He would like to speak with you
once more before he dies."